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| Serious problems in prisons: Corrections review team returns scathing indictment of system |
| By newsminer.com |
| Published: 11/17/2015 |
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News-Miner opinion: In a press conference at which Gov. Bill Walker released the findings of a months-long investigation into the state corrections system, he said that system is “broken in many ways.” If the report’s findings are accurate — and there’s no reason to believe they aren’t, given the extensive documentation and investigation done by the review team — that’s no overstatement. In its 20 pages, the report describes major failures within the Department of Corrections and makes recommendations on addressing them. Given the magnitude of what’s wrong, the state should start moving on those recommendations as soon as possible. The governor commissioned the review team in August after a rash of inmate deaths and concerns raised by lawmakers and members of the public. The team visited facilities around the state and reviewed more than 20 deaths of Alaskans in custody. What they found was a host of failings or poor policies relating to most aspects of incarceration. Some of those failings appear to stem from institutional rigidity and a lack of will to adapt to changing times, as evidenced by prison policies that in many cases haven’t been updated in decades — some not since the 1980s. Furthermore, an odd bureaucratic structure appears to have resulted in different “chains of command” for some prison staff, causing difficulty in scheduling, providing care to inmates and other lapses. Read More. |
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